Welcome to the start of the 2013 Sibiu Tour. The race will cross many terrains, but today we shall focus on what we have in hand, a short 2.5km Prologue. Don’t expect it to create big gaps among the overall favourites but it should give us an idea of who is in form. A range of riders could take this today, but the pre-stage favourites are all overall contenders: Thomas Dekker, Rein Taaramae and Vladmir Karpets.
The first rider of note to finish is Andrew Tennant. The Time Trial specialist should have a chance today and sets a decent time of 3’52”, 4 seconds ahead of current leader Anton Vorobev. We’ll have to see how that time holds up over the day.
German Tony Martin is the next big rouleur to set a time. He stops the clock on 3’54”, which is 2 seconds behind the lead.
After him Ian Stannard comes in. He fails to beat his teammate’s time, finishing 2 seconds down. That puts him in 3rd for the moment.
The first overall contender to finish in is Maxim Iglinski. The Kazakh looks to be deputy leader for his team behind Vladmir Karpets, but he should be able to achieve a good finish himself. He isn’t the strongest Time Triallist however; his time is 3’56” which is 4 seconds down.
After Iglinski finishes Hajun Ma finishes his TT. He is a good time triallist, but not up to the standards of some others here you’d think. Surprisingly though he beats Tennant’s time by a matter of milliseconds, overtaking the Brit with the same time as him of 3’52”.
After Ma lots of riders try to beat his time, but to no avail. Matthias Brändle and Marios Athanasiades come closest but neither move into the top 3 provisionally. A look at the times with 20 riders to come:
Now, the GC contenders will come thick and fast. Stijn Devolder sets a decent time to go 17th of 3’55” before Ian Bibby finishes his run. He is known to be solid on the TT bike, and that shows. He moves into 3rd for the moment, finishing just 1 second down on Ma and teammate Tennant.
Thomas Lofkvist, and then Gianpaolo Caruso both ride decent TT’s coming in 3 seconds down on the current lead. We stay with Jose Serpa, however. The Colombian can’t TT with the best but when the Mountains come look out for him. His time: 3’58 at 6 seconds.
Another Jose, but this time Venezuelan, is Jose Alarcon. He is a very similar rider to Serpa but he can climb better. As the best rider in the race uphill he should be able to make gains on the mountain stages. Time trialling isn’t his strength however, posting a time 7 seconds back.
Andrei Kashechkin and then Vadim Ratiy pass through the finishing straight. Both set good times, 2 seconds down on the lead, but neither can overtake Ma’s time, which is holding up well. Vladmir Karpets is next out of the gate.
The Russian who was a pre-stage favourite rides a fast TT, but it isn’t fast enough to move into 1st. He’ll have to settle with 4th for the moment, which at least guarantees him a top 10.
Into the final five riders now, Yaroslav Popovych is another rider capable of a top 10 today. He sets a time 2 seconds back on the lead, which still fails to be beaten.
David Abal is capable of winning this race no doubt, and will look to get off to a good start here. He does; he sets a new best time of 3’51”! Ma is finally beaten by just 1 second.
There is more to come however. Thomas Dekker is another big GC contender and Stage Favourite who could well take this. As he crosses the line the clock reads 3’52”, which means Abal stays in the lead. The Dutchman slots in in third behind Ma.
One rider is left: Rein Taaramae. As he rolls down the ramp he knows the time he has to beat.
He stops the clock after a very fast ride. Is it enough?
It isn't, his time is 3’52”! David Abal takes the first yellow jersey of the race by a second! A great start from the Spaniard, who gets off on the right foot here. Hajun Ma takes a surprise second while Thomas Dekker rounds out the podium.
