Hello and welcome to the Isle of Man for this C1 Time Trial classic. The division's best rouleurs will all be setting a time today on this challenging course. The main favourites today must be Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie who look to be a cut above the rest.
After a few weaker riders set a time, the first rider of note is Ian Stannard, who is also riding in his home territory. With a big tailwind, he as expected sets the new best time of the day, 1h 31'44". That's 1'11" ahead of the second fastest time set by Daan Rijntjes.
The next competitive time to be set is by Frenchman Hugues Mottin. He doesn't beat Stannard's time, which seems to be very fast, but stops the clock on 1h 31'57", 13" behind the Brit.
Dennis Van Winden is the next contender through the finish. He stops the clock 26" behind Stannard, putting him in 3rd provisionally.
These early times may not be set by the best climbers but they make up for it with TT skill. With the big tailwind for most of the course slowly receding, these times could last a while.
One more contender goes through before the final set of riders. It is Michael Ford, who like the riders setting good times at the moment is renouned for his TT ability and not his climbing.
With the huge tailwind slowing, he can only manage provisional fifth. That must be disappointing for him, stopping the clock 1’20” behind first and 5” behind fourth placed team mate Jean-Christophe Peraud who rode a good TT.
The last rider to finish before the final 10 contenders is Chinese rider Hajun Ma. He isn't the best TT rider around but this is certainly his speciality.
He disappoints, which must be frustrating for his manager, by coming in 9th, 2'09" back. Not the best ride from him.
A view of the times at the finish with 10 riders left:
Andrew Tennant is the final Jaguar rider to finish. Cheered on by the home crowd, he slots in in provisional fourth, 1'12" behind his teammate.
Stannard's time is looking incredibly fast at the moment and as the wind has dropped, it will take a quality ride to surpass him.
Ninth last to finish is Ignatas Konovalovas, airBaltic's best rider against the clock. Once more he fails to surpass the leaders time, coming in 2'03" back in eighth. The early times are looking more impressive every minute.
Meanwhile, the two favorites have gone down the starting ramp. A great battle looks set to happen between the two elite rouleurs of the division.
Back at the finish, Vasil Kiryienka has just finished. He rode a decent TT but is another that cannot crack the early times. He can only manage eighth, 1'50" back.
Rui Costa,
And then Tony Martin both try and fail to surpass Stannard's time. In fact, they don't even come close. The wind seems to have really benefited the early riders.
Despite improving drastically against the clock in recent months, German Martin can only manage eighth provisionally. His time is 1h 33'29", 1'35" behind the lead.
Costa is just behind Martin's time in ninth. Despite being able to climb better than most contenders, he cannot profit from the Snaefell climb. His time is 1'39" behind Stannard.
The Brit is still sitting pretty in first with only five riders left. Can anyone beat him?
Zabriskie and Rogers are now both over the final time check.
At the first two time checks Zabriskie was marginally ahead by 12 and 26 seconds respectively. After the Snaefell climb though, the American champion has pulled out a big lead of 1'24"!
They are both ahead of Stannard's time which hasn't been beaten by Boom, Reus or Cornu. Those three look to be struggling to reach the podium.
A look at those times at the third check:
Boom in the end rides a good TT, but with no wind it is tough to surpass the earlier times. He comes in in fourth 45" down on the leader with a time of 1h 32'29".
Reus then crosses the line. The outcome is the same, with him not being to overtake the early times. He can take heart being the fastest after the wind speed dropped but he must wonder what he could have done.
Finishing ahead of Boom he slots in in fourth for the moment, 36" back. A top 10 in ensured with just three riders left to finish.
On the final downhill, Zabriskie can see Rogers. Could a humiliating overtake be in store?
Only one rider is left to finish before the big two which is Belgian Champ Dominique Cornu. He isn't the best uphill and that shows, making him lose out to the two Germans Boom and Reus.
Provisional sixth is what he has to settle for, 1'00" behind Stannard, who is now sure of a podium.
Rogers manages to hold off an overtake, as he crosses the line with his pride still intact. Finally Stannard’s time is beaten with the World Champion moving into provisional first by 35”, in a time of 1h 31’09”. Zabriskie is almost certain to move past him though.
Zabriskie crosses the line and looks up at the clock…
The inevitable is confirmed, as Zabriskie is crowned the winner of the Isle of Man ITT 2013 by a whopping 1’40”! A brilliant ride from the American Champion, he put in a dominating performance against Rogers, something which you don’t see very often.
Stannard also deserves a mention, clinching an unexpected podium on home turf. He went off early today and that paid off for him and his team.
