Stage 4 and the Tour of Sochi time trial. It's quite a long one at 44.9km, with a couple of tough hills to really test the riders out. Zabriskie is the best time triallist here and will look to make up time on those who climbed a way from him yesterday, as will Boom. But Dekker and Kritskiy are both very good against the clock and could have stage aspirations alongside their battle for overall race victory, plus all of the other riders who gained time on the uphill finish are good timetrialists: Bibby, Gerdemann, Izagirre, Costa and Konovalovas.
Here is a reminder of the important GC time gaps going into the stage, alongside the riders' respective time trial stats.
1
Kritskiy
79
2
Dekker
+ 37
79
3
Bibby
+ 1'28
77
4
Gerdemann
+ 1'32
74
5
Izagirre
+ 2'20
75
6
Costa
+ 2'20
76
7
Konovalovas
+ 2'30
75
8
Zeits
+ 2'36
59
9
Rovny
+ 2'48
63
10
Mandri
+ 2'48
70
11
Sanchez
+ 2'48
67
12
Hatanaka
+ 2'48
63
15
Boom
+ 2'48
78
16
Popkov
+ 2'48
74
17
Teklehaimanot
+ 2'48
70
19
Fraile
+ 2'48
72
22
Raisin
+ 2'48
73
23
Zabriskie
+ 2'48
83
26
Niemiec
+ 2'48
75
29
Ghisalberti
+ 2'48
69
10 Others
+ 2'48
With the added home and race leader bonus, Kritskiy may be untouchable from Dekker, with Bibby favourite to take 3rd over Gerdemann. Zabriskie and Boom ought to comfortably make the Top 10, but will need good rides to go for the Top 7 - and could the time trial actually be long enough for Zabriskie to close in on Gerdemann or Bibby for a podium spot?
Plenty of good timetriallists are spread through the field, such as Kwok, Bontenackels, Brutt, Fonte and Ovechkin.
And it is the Russians who lead the standings, with just the final 30 riders (all who are within 3 minutes of Kritskiy) left to finish.
1
Ovechkin
1h03'29
2
Brutt
+ 3
3
Fonte
+ 20
4
Bontenackels
+ 31
5
Lagutin
+ 48
6
Kunitski
+ 49
7
Sobal
+ 55
8
Chaves
+ 1'02
9
Bespalov
+ 1'02
10
Kwok
+ 1'03
11
Hudecek
+ 1'05
12
Seeldraeyers
+ 1'12
13
Cleaver
+ 1'15
14
Chacon
+ 1'18
15
Mironov
+ 1'26
16
Warbasse
+ 1'30
17
Kaisen
+ 1'39
18
Brambilla
+ 1'40
19
Zmorka
+ 1'41
20
Serebriakov
+ 1'42
It is worth noting that the weak climbers Kwok, Kaisen and Zmorka have struggled relative to their time trial stats. Brutt is currently best placed on the clubhouse GC standings, but starting the day 3'57 back makes it tough for him to even make the Top 20 overall at the end of today.
Every rider is now out on course, which started with a tough climb right from the startgate, before riders could even work themselves into a rhythym.
Rui Costa battling with gradient that is as steep as 9% at times
Thomas Dekker and Ignas Konovalovas tackled the climb fastest, as the checkpoint times show.
Check 1
1
Dekker
5'47
2
Konovalovas
+ 0
3
Gerdemann
+ 2
4
Costa
+ 2
5
Kritskiy
+ 3
6
Lejman
+ 3
7
Ghisalberti
+ 3
8
Bibby
+ 4
9
Izagirre
+ 4
10
Rovny
+ 4
11
Hatanaka
+ 4
12
Barrio
+ 4
13
Betancourt
+ 4
14
Boom
+ 5
15
Sanchez
+ 6
16
Pakthusov
+ 6
17
Proni
+ 6
18
Zeits
+ 7
19
Chaves
+ 7
20
Mandri
+ 8
32
Zabriskie
+ 12
Good times from the likes of Hatanaka, Barrio and Betancourt are unlikely to sustain them over the whole course - indeed Betancourt ultimately finished 2'33 behind Brutt.
Let's cut to the finish line though because Niemiec has just come home as the new leader. He is 14 seconds faster than Brutt.
But it won't be for long as Captain America Dave Zabriskie is almost upon the finish as well.
After a sluggish start, he has been topping all the checkpoints - with times that he hopes will not be beaten - and smashes Niemiec's time by 1'17 to go first. Certainly raising the possibility that Zabriskie could gain enough time on Gerdemann by the end of the day.
Finish
1
Zabriskie
1h01'56
2
Niemiec
+ 1'17
3
Ovechkin
+ 1'32
4
Brutt
+ 1'36
5
Fonte
+ 1'53
7
Ghisalberti
+ 2'21
Looking out on course, Lars Boom has passed the 3rd checkpoint - which proceeds the 2nd big climb of the day - and he is going well, just 6 seconds down on Zabriskie.
But Thomas Dekker is the man who is flying right now, he has the lead after the 2nd Checkpoint. The first check was at just 2km, but this one is at 12km - so could be more representative of who is riding best today.
Check 2
1
Dekker
18'27
2
Kritskiy
+ 7
3
Zabriskie
+ 17
4
Bibby
+ 18
5
Konovalovas
+ 19
6
Costa
+ 24
7
Gerdemann
+ 27
8
Boom
+ 30
9
Izagirre
+ 32
10
Niemiec
+ 42
11
Brutt
+ 46
12
Fonte
+ 52
13
Popkov
+ 54
14
Ovechkin
+ 54
15
Raisin
+ 55
Dekker has continued to gain on Zabriskie on the flat, after the early climb, and is starting to eke out a small advantage on Kritskiy - the Russian may have to fight for his overall victory afterall.
There is 15km in between the 2nd and 3rd checkpoints, an equal mixture of downhill, flat and hill, and speeding through there is Konovalovas - with a time faster than Zabriskie's!
The Lithuanian holds a 10 second advantage on Zabriskie at this check, with Costa slotting in between Zabriskie and Boom, just 1 second behind the American.
Over at the finish, the day is now over for Costa's teammate Fraile plus fellow young rider Teklehaimanot.
Neither could match Raisin who went 4th, but Fraile is in the provisional Top 10 and looks set to secure a Top 15 finish in GC - a very good start to the career for the young time trial specialist. Teklehaimanot will just miss out on the Top 15 overall, but together with Fraile they take 2nd and 3rd in the best young rider competition.
Next notable rider to finish is Metinvest's Popkov. He is hunting a Top 10 GC finish, and for that he really needs to be beating Niemiec.
It's not to be for the Ukrainian as he goes 6th at the finish, not really close to Niemiec and only just ahead of Raisin. Still a good GC position awaits him.
We don't have long to wait for the World road race champion, Lars Boom. A bit of a slow start but he was just 6 seconds off Zabriskie at the 3rd checkpoint - has he closed that gap?
No! Infact it has widen. He goes 2nd at the finish, but is 22 seconds behind the American.
Finish
1
Zabriskie
1h01'56
2
Boom
+ 22
3
Niemiec
+ 1'17
4
Ovechkin
+ 1'32
5
Brutt
+ 1'36
6
Popkov
+ 1'49
7
Raisin
+ 1'50
8
Fonte
+ 1'53
9
Bontenackels
+ 2'04
10
Fraile
+ 2'20
Back to that 3rd checkpoint we go, and Bibby has also gone faster than Zabriskie here! He is slower than Konovalovas, but the important thing for the Brit is his 12 second lead on Gerdemann, which makes 3rd place look increasingly his.
But still on a charge is Dekker, and he is through the checkpoint an amazing 41 seconds faster than Zabriskie!
The pressure is on for race leader Timofey Kritskiy. Ride on a par with Zabriskie and he would be losing his race lead. He is on a good ride though - ordinarily it would be brilliant, but Dekker is overshadowing that.
The Dutchman leads the Russian by 17 seconds at Checkpoint 3, and there is still plenty of riding to go. Remember, the gap between them at the start of the day was 37 seconds!
Checkpoint 3
1
Dekker
39'01
2
Kritskiy
+ 17
3
Konovalovas
+ 30
4
Bibby
+ 37
5
Zabriskie
+ 41
6
Costa
+ 42
7
Boom
+ 48
8
Gerdemann
+ 49
9
Izagirre
+ 58
10
Niemiec
+ 1'23
11
Brutt
+ 1'32
12
Ovechkin
+ 1'38
13
Fonte
+ 1'40
14
Popkov
+ 1'41
15
Raisin
+ 1'48
Just 10 rider left to finish now, and the first of those is Rene Mandri. He goes 11th, just 1 second slower than CSC's Fraile. It will secure him a Top 15 GC position but AirBaltic's focus is elsewhere now.
At the start of the day both Boom and Zabriskie will have been confident of overhauling the 18 second deficit they had to Konovalovas yet at the 3rd checkpoint the Lithuanian had 11 seconds on Zabriskie and 18 on Boom.
Can he hold them off?
He isnt going to beat Zabriskie, but he does beat Boom. But the gap to Zabriskie is ... 18 seconds! Konovalovas faded but still produces a brilliant time, and it looks like he and Zabriskie are now tied on GC!
Provisional GC
1
Konovalovas
0
2
Zabriskie
0
3
Boom
+ 22
4
Niemiec
+ 1'17
5
Popkov
+ 1'49
6
Raisin
+ 1'50
7
Fraile
+ 2'20
8
Mandri
+ 2'21
9
Ghisalberti
+ 2'21
10
Teklehaimanot
+ 2'36
Rui Costa is next, and he had slightly more time to play with on Zabriskie: 28 seconds. But then, he was behind the American at the 3rd split by 1 second, and Konovalovas just lost 29 seconds on Zabriskie in the final section. Could be close!
And it is close, as the clock ticks away and Costa rides home for 4th at the finish .... 32 seconds behind Zabriskie. He thus falls below both Zabriskie and Konovalovas in GC, which will certainly disappoint him.
Provisional GC
1
Konovalovas
0
2
Zabriskie
0
3
Costa
+ 4
4
Boom
+ 22
Hollister's Izagirre started the day on the same time as Costa but hasn't really been in contention as the Portugese has. His race is to try and stay ahead of Boom in GC
A decent ride as he goes 5th, 57 seconds down - but that is 35 slower than Boom, and so he has not managed to stay ahead. The young rider's jersey is secured though.
Prov. GC
1
Konovalovas
0
2
Zabriskie
0
3
Costa
+ 4
4
Boom
+ 22
5
Izagirre
+ 29
Linus Gerdemann started the day knowing he had more than a minute in hand on Zabriskie, and more importantly, just 4 seconds to gain on Bibby.
He takes 5th at the finish, 47 seconds behind the lead time. Comfortably into the provisional GC lead then, but now we wait for the British rider.
Meanwhile Dekker and Kritskiy are dueling it out in the closing stages as well. GPS tracking shows that Dekker has been extending his lead, but can he extend it enough?
Bibby now descends to the line, a GC podium in sight.
He goes narrowly slower than Boom, 23 seconds behind Zabriskie. That is also a 24 second gain on Gerdemann, so 3rd overall is his.
All eyes on Thomas Dekker as he sprints towards the finish.
Konovalovas, Costa and Bibby have all lost time on Zabriskie in this mostly flat final section, but Dekker did have 41 seconds to play with.
And he has kept most of it, he surely takes the stage win as he finishes 32 seconds ahead of Zabriskie. Brilliant ride.
And it has really put Timofey Kritskiy under pressure. 37 seconds is his lead, can he hold it?
Over the line he goes and the crowd explodes (with joy)! 2nd on the stage for Kritskiy - he too has beaten Zabriskie - 28 seconds behind Dekker. He has kept his lead by just 9 seconds.
Make that 8 seconds as the official results hand Dekker another second. The official results are also crucial in the battle for 5th. We thought Zabriskie and Konovalovas would be tied on time, which might have given the position to Konovalovas, but infact Zabriskie has done enough to finish 1 second ahead of him. Some consolation perhaps, on a day where his TT winning streak in PCT was broken.
