Here it comes. The special TTT event from Copenhagen to Malmo. 58km as a team and except for an early hill, it`s totally flat. The riders have to pass the Øresundsbron here, which makes it a special route.
The fans already prepared the road here for the home team B&O on the Danish side. On the other side of the bridge, we expect the Swedish fans yelling for Koenigsegg.
But the first team on the road is a different and already a very strong team: Festina with Konovalovas at the front climbing the hill and pass the first sector. 1st place obviously, but we will have to wait a bit to see what their time is worth.
Vesuvio is behind them on the bridge to heaven?
The team in red is not really focussing this TTT here which also shows their time. 14s behind Festina as 2nd.
Wiggle next.
Ignatiev and Malori are really power horses here to pull the team and they do pretty well going 1st so far beating Festina by 2s.
No ambitions for Aker - MOT. The team of new World Champion Boasson Hagen is just not made for TTT`s. 4th and already 40s off.
Project 1t4i is todays favourite. Gesink and Posthuma might be the strongest duo here and also the others are good time trialists. So it`s not a surprise to see them beating the best time by quite a lot. 21s to Wiggle. Who will be able to beat that time?
Milka - AVG? No. But they came closest with +18s as 2nd.
Wildcard team Metinvest-Emirates mustn`t be forgotten here with several good time trialists. They are 5th but within a few seconds to all those potential podium teams. Just 6s to Milka.
Wikipedia surely under pressure here as Koenigsegg has the stronger team on the paper. Coming through with only +25s is pretty well though.
Team Bacardi as next. The team failed pretty much this season as Ricco, Burghardt or Intxausti couldn`t deliver as expected. So the team might relegate to PCT next season to eventually start a rebuild around younger riders. Today won`t change a lot I guess as they are already +34s.
Koenigsegg highers the pressure on Wikipedia as they do very well so far. 4th at the section but actually just 2s faster than their biggest opponents.
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi pretty much secured their relegation already and today is another bad performance. 52s behind already.
But Santander is topping all other teams. +1'15 after just 23km shows how weak their squad is in this race. Actually all races without Madrazo or Tenorio were like that this season. But having two excellent scorers will pretty much safe the team.
Pendleton's with a superb ride coming through the checkpoint as 3rd with +21s. You couldn`t necessarily expect such a strong result by them.
Team Puma - SAP also has a lot of pressure as the relegation battle is close for many teams. And being far off with +54s isn`t ideal.
It has been quiet around Pearl Adidas recently. But it can`t really be because of their results as their 1st sector was strong being 5th so far.
Simply Red Bull or the Cancellara speed train needs to speed up a bit as they come through as 10th only. Spartacus might not be in the best shape a few days after the Worlds as the main work seems to be done by Bobridge today. Or is the Swiss just waiting for the flat 2nd half?
Pokerstars are just one behind them as 11th but their ambitions are probably lower.
Team B&O is coming and the fans go crazy. As 9th but just +24s, so 6s to the 2nd, this is a good result so far and puts the pressure on Puma.
Heineken with a great time as 3rd so far. Even without their best time trialist Braijkovic today.
UBS - BMC more goes into the other direction as their manager did forecast. +46s here in the 2nd half of the sector times.
Last but not least Lotto - Cervelo coming through the sector as 12th.
So lets have a look at the sector 1 results:
1
Project 1t4i
23'48'' (1)
2
Milka - AVG
18'' (2)
3
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
19'' (3)
4
Pendleton's
21'' (4)
5
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
21'' (5)
6
Pearl Adidas
23'' (6)
7
Koenigsegg
23'' (7)
8
Festina-Canal+
23'' (8)
9
Metinvest-Emirates
24'' (9)
10
Team B&O
24'' (10)
11
Wikipedia
25'' (11)
12
Lotto - Cervelo
30'' (12)
13
Simply Red Bull
31'' (13)
14
Team Bacardi
34'' (14)
15
Pokerstars.com
35'' (15)
16
Vesuvio - Accumalux
37'' (16)
17
UBS - BMC
46'' (17)
18
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
52'' (18)
19
Team Puma - SAP
54'' (19)
20
Aker - MOT
1'01'' (20)
21
Santander
1'15'' (21)
So Project 1t4i already with a huge time gap but behind a very close battle for the other places. So it will remain exciting until the end I guess.
Not all teams have passed the 2nd sector yet but we have the first team in the finish and it`s obviously Festina-Canal+ again setting the new best time. Their first sector time was 8th only. Surely they aren`t happy with that and so we will wait for the next teams to see if they did improve.
Vesuvio - Accumalux comes in with a 54s gap. They were always in the 2nd half of the results so far.
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team is struggling to keep 5 riders to the finish. And going over the line is a first loss for them as they couldn`t defend their sector 1 and 2 advantage over Festina, who is faster by 1s only in the finish.
So Wiggins & co were obviously too fast in the beginning.
This is also shown by the 2nd sector times, where all teams have passed now:
Rank
Team
1st
2nd
1
Project 1t4i
23'48'' (1)
46'19'' (1)
2
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
21'' (5)
18'' (2)
3
Koenigsegg
23'' (7)
21'' (3)
4
Milka - AVG
18'' (2)
22'' (4)
5
Metinvest-Emirates
24'' (9)
24'' (5)
6
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
19'' (3)
29'' (6)
7
Pendleton's
21'' (4)
35'' (7)
8
Pearl Adidas
23'' (6)
39'' (8)
9
Festina-Canal+
23'' (8)
41'' (9)
10
Team Bacardi
34'' (14)
45'' (10)
11
Team B&O
24'' (10)
46'' (11)
12
Wikipedia
25'' (11)
49'' (12)
13
Simply Red Bull
31'' (13)
53'' (13)
14
Pokerstars.com
35'' (15)
57'' (14)
15
Vesuvio - Accumalux
37'' (16)
1'02'' (15)
16
Lotto - Cervelo
30'' (12)
1'03'' (16)
17
UBS - BMC
46'' (17)
1'13'' (17)
18
Team Puma - SAP
54'' (19)
1'34'' (18)
19
Aker - MOT
1'01'' (20)
1'42'' (19)
20
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
52'' (18)
1'49'' (20)
21
Santander
1'15'' (21)
2'05'' (21)
Project 1t4i still in 1st and still a 18s gap. But here Wiggle was 2nd! So their disappointment to be beaten by Festina in the finish is obvious as Festina was 8th and 9th so far. So Wiggle also has to hope now that Festina had a huge ride in the last sector.
Also Koenigsegg did improve a lot in the 2nd sector being on podium course now!
Heineken and Pendleton`s though lost quite a bit here.
Aker - MOT and Project 1t4i sharing the road now. Both teams without problems to keep 8 riders together. But as 2nd mentioned is definitely far better time wise this is pretty impressive.
So it`s once again the 1st for them beating Festina by 41s.
Aker though lost 2'29 in the end going last at the moment.
Milka - AVG obviously saved enough energy for the final and Coppel pulled the team to a great time. Not 1st though as Project 1t4i is ahead of them but they came close with 5s only!
Metinvest-Emirates improved from 9th to 5th and now is on top5 or even podium course!
They indeed kick Festina off the podium, who can`t be happy really. But will this be enough to stay there?
Wikipedia did everything they could. But seeing that Koenigsegg was pretty quick here they might lose a bit on them today. 6th so far in the finish won`t deliver big points.
Team Bacardi puts them another place back as they take the 6th now.
Koenigsegg! New 3rd besdt time and just 15s behind Project 1t4i. So they gained time from sector to sector.
Pro Team Venchi was quickly reduced to 6 and this didn`t help them neither. Second last at the moment beating Aker for last.
Santander against Pendleton's on the last meters.
But while the Spaniards can`t avoid coming in last, Pendleton's do a lot better as 3rd moving on the podium.
Team Puma - SAP most likely will lose on B&O today. At least they let 3 other teams behind them with Venchi, Aker and Santander.
Pearl Adidas also with a good ride as 4th and this way missing the podium closely. But good news for Wikipedia as Koenigsegg is slowly moving backwards with those teams being faster.
Pokerstars.com as 7th at the moment with a decent ride but won`t score a lot though.
It wasn`t the day of Spartacus as Simply Red Bull will probably miss the top 10 as Bobridge passes the line first. Still a surprise that they are faster than Festina and Wiggle, who lost a lot of their places already. Huge disappointment for both. Festina all day long and Wiggle in especially after their strong sector times.
Team B&O as 8th with a decent time trial and beating Puma by quite a bit.
Heineken with 7 riders left on the final kilometer. But it`s enough to climb onto the podium again. So they have improved again after a weaker 2nd sector it seems. Important for them in the relegation fight.
UBS - BMC with the expected result. Far off from the top places being in the 2nd half.
Lotto - Cervelo with a huge 3rd sector. Probably the best of all teams!!
12th at the 1st, 16th at the 2nd and 7th! in the finish!!
They gained 27s on Project 1t4i there and were able to climb up a lot. What a ride by them.
So Project1t4i, Milka and Heineken on the podium. Congrats to those.
Also important result for Koenigsegg beating Wikipedia in the fight for the PT crown and Pendleton`s/Lotto/B&O beating Puma in the relegation fight.
Result
Rank
Team
1st
2nd
Finish
1
Project 1t4i
23'48'' (1)
46'19'' (1)
1h24'17 (1)
2
Milka - AVG
18'' (2)
22'' (4)
+ 6 (2)
3
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
