Our third last stage of the Tour rolls around and it brings a big challenge for the riders – a 55km time trial in and around Sacramento. There is not much to say about the course. Pan flat the entire way and with time checks at 19km and 34km. There aren’t many TT specialists here, so it is likely to come down to a big battle between the closely-matched GC contenders to see who has recovered best. The main exception is Dempster, who is the biggest favourite for the stage today.
Our first man out of the blocks is Polito. He has had a rather quiet race with a crash on stage 8 the only major occurrence. He goes through the first check in 30’32”.
The man behind him, however is a rather decent young time trialist by the name of Viennet. He has made himself pretty much a household name thanks to this race with his long-range attacks and constant crashes. His time through the first check is a much more reasonable 29’23”.
In fact Viennet overtakes Polito before the second check. Their times through here are 54’06” and 56’10” respectively and Viennet is our first person to finish the course in 1h28’04”, which should give us a good idea of what we are to expect. Polito manages 1h30’14”.
A lot of our TT specialists are out on the course early today and the next one is Kwok. He was in a break on stage 10 but will probably be much more pleased with his 4th place on stage 3 in the sprint. His time through the first check is 29’10”, putting him in the provisional lead there.
Through the second check he sets another benchmark of 53’45” and finally he finishes with our new best time of 1h27’33”. He will be pleased with that but he may not hold it for too long, because several riders behind him is another time trialist.
In 49th place overall the Japanese TT champion Beppu. He has been in two breaks and has also crashed twice this race, most recently on stage 9. He will be hoping for a good result going in to this and more so after he sets a new best at the first check of 29’00”.
His pace remains high through the second check and he shaves still more time off with a ride of 53’29”. Finally, he comes through in a very respectable new best of 1h27’03”, a full 30” faster than his teammate.
Two other similar time trialists are behind him on the road – Ziegler and Hoste. Both are clearly out of sorts today, however, as they can only manage 1h27’57” and 1h28’00” respectively, each almost a minute slower than our current leader.
The next big challenger is 41st overall Van Ooijen. He has been another constant aggressor in this race and his efforts were rewarded with the stage win on stage 15. Through the first check he is looking strong with a time of 29’01”, just 1 second slower than Beppu went.
He loses another second through the 2nd check and by the end his time is 1h27’12”. That puts him in second place, just 9” off the pace. The next man behind him also puts in a good effort – Viviani. His time is 1h27’32”, provisionally third though you have to think that there are a lot of riders who can slot in between now and the end.
Finally we come to the man who everyone has been waiting for, the Australian Dempster. He has had a quiet race which has involved a lot of domestique work for the race leader. But that doesn’t seem to have taken anything out of him as he goes through in 27’49”, more than a minute faster already!
And he does not look like slowing down. His time through the second check is 51’25”, more than 2 minutes faster. Finally he finishes the course in 1h24’11”, 2’52” faster than the previous best of Beppu. Dempster is clearly the new leader and is already looking good for a stage win.
Though they can’t come close to Dempster’s time, three more riders come through in under 1h27’00”. First up is Oliveira, who manages 1h26’56”. Then follows Shikai in 1h26’22” and finally Castroviejo puts in a strong time of 1h26’41”.
With that we hit the top 20 overall. Our top five looks like this:
Chk. 1
Chk. 2
Finish
Dempster
27’49”
51’25”
1h24’11”
Morizot
27’59”
51’38”
1h24’21”
Shikai
28’41”
52’54”
1h26’22”
Castroviejo
28’47”
53’14”
1h26’41”
Oliveira
28’53”
53’14”
1h26’56”
Beppu
29’00”
53’29”
1h27’03”
In 20th place it is Elissonde, who has been languishing over the last week and will certainly be struggling today. His goal will just be to finish he course as his top 20 spot doesn’t look to be in much danger. His time through the first check reflects his lack of enthusiasm with 29’35”.
And he goes through the second check in 54’29” and finally finishes the course in 1h28’40”. He only has 2 more days to go to have to defend his top 20 in a three week tour and will be pleased with that prospect.
Next up we have Vasquez. He has been constantly struggling on the hills throughout this race and has been performing below his manager’s hopes. He will also be likely to struggle today. His time through the first check isn’t too bad, however, with 29’18”.
His time through the second check continues to look acceptable with 53’59” on the clock. Finally, he finishes the course in 1h27’56”, keeping him well in contention. He had very little on the line today so he can be pleased with a mid-table finish.
Another one of the biggest favourites for today was our next starter, 18th place Morizot. He is definitely one of the best time trialists here, but his crash two days ago may have thrown a spanner in the works. Regardless, his time through the first check is a very strong 27’59”, just 10” shy of Dempster, whose time suddenly looks a lot less secure.
The time through the second check shows a slight slowing as he drops another three seconds with a time of 51’38”. Finally, he claws back some time in the final leg of the course but not enough as he finishes in 1h24’21”, putting him in second place provisionally.
Morizot’s strong ride puts a bit of pressure on our next rider Vital, who starts the day only 55” ahead of him. Vital starts off with a time of 29’09”, already putting him 1’10” down and thus out of his current 17th overall.
Things have not improved through the second check as he goes through in 53’43”, almost 2 minutes slower at this point. At the finish line has comes through in 1h27’33”, more than 3 minutes slower than the Frenchman.
Clearly Morizot’s time will be putting a number of riders in difficulty today. The next person having to defend their place is Martinez. He is 16th mostly due to being on the right team in this race – he has always been at the front and so hasn’t missed any cuts. He will not have the team to fall back on today, however. He starts 1’37” ahead of Morizot. Most of this is lost during the first leg of the course, however, as he goes through in 28’51”, leaving him only about 40” in hand.
Unsurprisingly things only start to get worse as the course wears on. Martinez’s time at the second check is 53’12”, putting him outside the time he needs to defend. His time at the finish is 1h26’48”. While not a terrible time in general, it is not enough to defend his 15th overall.
The next rider on Morizot’s charge up the table is his teammate Feillu. He is the definition of a pure climber, so probably won’t like today. Indeed his time at the first check is close to that o Vital before him, with only 29’07”. He has 2’28” in hand over Morizot.
The time through the second check is 53’38”, exactly 2 minutes slower than his teammate. Feillu can’t quite hold on and at the end his time is 1h27’24”, which is 3’03” slower than Morizot, meaning that Morizot is now in 15th overall.
There is one more rider within striking distance, and that is Seledkov, who starts today in 14th place 2’42” down on Morizot. He is not much of a time trialist, but should be stiffer competition than most of the others. Or at least that was the idea, as he goes through the first check in a frankly terrible 29’20”.
Indeed he has almost exhausted his entire time gap which he began the day with by the second check, where he goes though in 54’02”. His time ends up at 1h27’59”, far enough behind Morizot to move the intrepid Frenchman up to 14th place.
It would be far too much to ask for him to reach Seeldraeyers, our next man off the blocks. The Belgian has had a strong third week and is a fairly good time trialist for these third week rides. His time through the first check reflects this as he goes through in 28’14”, making him a surprise third place at that check so far.
His pace remains high and through the second check he is still provisional third, with a time of 52’04”. His finishing time is once again in third place and he is only the second person to come within two minutes of Dempster. He gets 1h25’06” as his time. He is unfortunate that he is ten minutes behind the next man out on the road.
That next man is Txurruka, who sits in 12th place. He is widely tipped to lose time on a day like this and will surely just want to defend as much of that ten minute barrier as he can before tomorrow’s final big climb. He can only muster 29’19” at the first check.
And through the second check he is pretty much mirroring Seledkov’s results, as he goes 1 second faster with 54’02”. Finally, he finishes in 1h27’57”, meaning that he lost a very acceptable 2’51” to Seeldraeyers today.
In 11th place overall sits Soler. He has had a very up-and-down race thus far this year and will probably be content to sit just outside the top ten. Not many people are tipping him to gain time on Sano, who is in tenth, but he can at least try to put him within striking distance in case an opportunity comes up tomorrow. His time through the first check is an acceptable 28’41”.
The second check sees another strong showing with a time of 52’53”, provisional fourth place. Indeed he holds this place to the finish and takes a strong time of 1h26’18”. Before the top 10 begin let’s have another look at the top 5 for the stage.
Chk. 1
Chk. 2
Finish
Dempster
27’49”
51’25”
1h24’11”
Morizot
27’59”
51’38”
1h24’21”
Seeldraeyers
28’14”
52’04”
1h25’06”
Soler
28’41”
52’53”
1h26’18”
Shikai
28’41”
52’54”
1h26’22”
So moving straight on to the top 10, our first rider out on course is Sano. The Japanese rider has been consistently riding within the top 15 without any massive standout performances in the mountains and hills. His goal today will be to basically ensure that he doesn’t lose too much time to ninth place Agudelo. He puts in a very strong showing through the first check of 28’25”, exceeding most people’s expectations.
His speed remains high and through the second check he goes through in provisional fourth best 52’24” and finally he finishes the course in 1h25’37”. This will certainly help to secure his tenth place against Soler.
In ninth place is Agudelo, who is another of the riders with an up-and-down race. It looked like he would be out of contention for a top 10 early in the race but then the mountains hit and he proved capable of staying with the best. He is also a capable time trialist, so he will certainly be hoping for something special today, with the main goal being to put more time into Sano. Through the first check he goes 8” faster than the Japanese rider in a time of 28’17”.
His pace increases only slightly through the second check with a time of 52’11” and finally he finishes in 1h25’19”, putting him fourth overall but only 18” faster than Sano. He may be disappointed by that and could well risk losing his current GC position tomorrow.
Eighth place overall belongs to the next rider out, Nicacio. He is an exceptionally good time trialist and this skill was his biggest advantage coming in to the race. Indeed, he shows just why as he goes through the first check with a new best of 27’14” – 35” faster than Dempster!
He slows through the second check, however, and people wonder if he has gone out too fast. He is now only 21” ahead of the Australian with a time of 51’04”. Proving all these critics wrong, however, he goes through the finish in a blazing time of 1h23’39”, 32” faster than Dempster’s time. Things are looking great for Nicacio, who seems to be in a good position to take a stage win!
Next up is Navarro. Though he is a pretty poor time trialist most of the time he still begins today with two major goals – avoid letting Nicacio in contention for his seventh overall and to potentially bring Szmyd’s sixth place within reach. His first time is rather lacklustre, however, as he goes through in 28’44”.
Through the second check he continues to be well outside of a competitive time with 52’58” on the clock and his finishing time is 1h26’27”. That means that he loses close to three minutes on Nicacio. Given that he started the day with a five minute gap, he might find that acceptable. He will be measuring his time against Szmyd though.
Szmyd, who currently wears the mountain jersey, has been doing a huge amount of work in the last three weeks and sits in sixth overall as a reward for that. He is abysmal against the clock and will be tired, however, so today will be crucial for him. He starts the day 14’33” behind Kiserlovski but more importantly he is only 2’57” ahead of Navarro. Through the first check things are looking decidedly desperate and he can only get a time of 30’01”, already 1’25” down on Navarro.
Through the second check he does not improve and sets a time of 55’17”, 2’19” down on his rival. Finally he finishes the course in 1h29’51”, losing 3’34” to the Spaniard, meaning that Navarro now moves in to sixth place and Szmyd drops to seventh.
We now find ourselves in the realm of the top 5 riders overall. The first of these is Ochoa Quintero, the super domestique par excellence. He has been bleeding time to everyone ahead of him over the last week and so today will just be about damage limitation to try to ensure that he can finish the trace in fifth place. His time of 29’09” through the first check is probably acceptable to him.
He is clearly struggling today, however, as he can only manage 53’43” at the second check and then finishes in 1h27’37”. He will probably be happy to only lose just over a minute to Navarro, who is now his nearest rival.
In fourth place is Kessiakoff, one of the truly great riders of this year’s race. He has three stage wins under his belt now and has really just been bounding up the leader board over the last fortnight. He now finds himself in a position where he can begin to dream of a podium place overall. He starts the day 29” behind Sicard and 1’43” behind Anton. His time through the first check is very, very fast and he clocks 28’01”, enough for provisional fourth place. While out on course he manages to overtake both of the Hollister riders who started before him.
The second check sees Kessiakoff go through in 51’43”, maintaining the pressure out there and finally he finishes in 1h24’38”, again fourth overall. That is a superb ride for the Swede and really has set the benchmark for his two rivals.
In third place overall is the first of those podium contenders Sicard. As said he is 29” ahead of Kessiakoff and that means that he is 1’14” behind Anton. He will be hoping to reduce the gap to second place so that he can take a shot at it tomorrow. His time at the first check is amazing – 27’55”. That puts him in third place on the stage, just 6” off the time of Dempster.
His time at the second check continues this great show and he manage 51’32”. He is actually extending the gap to Kessiakoff and really putting Anton under pressure here. He crosses the finish line and his time registers at an incredible 1h24’21”. He has clearly recovered well in this last week.
In second place is Anton, who now knows that he has to ride a fantastic time to avoid losing his podium place. Through the first check he shows that he is up to the challenge with a time of 28’02”, just 1” slower than Kessiakoff and 7” slower than Sicard.
The second check shows that he has clearly controlled himself well as he goes through in 51’44”, again only 1” slower than Kessiakoff. He crosses the line in 1h24’38”, which is actually the same time as the Swede, but in the fractions of a second he is ruled to be behind him in provisional sixth. He only lost 17” to Sicard today, which will more than satisfy him.
Our last rider out is of course Kiserlovski and this has the feeling more of a victory parade than it does a serious race. He has never looked under pressure and so he should have quite a bit of energy left for today’s test against the clock. He goes through the first check in 27’55”, just fractions of a second outside Sicard.
He goes through the second time check once again just marginally outside of the time of Sicard in fourth. Finally, he clearly is sick of this similarity and decides to go through the finish line in 1h24’20” – 1 second faster than the Frenchman, giving him third on the stage.
And with that Nicacio is today’s stage winner! Dempster will be disappointed to miss out on the win but Nicacio just recovered better and hasn’t been doing as much work as the Australian. The changes in the overall have already been covered and the podium places are still up for grabs, except for that of race leader of course unless something horrible happens. Not only that but 6th-8th looks open to competition and so do many of the minor placings.
