It might be the last real chance to change the GC as tomorrows flat finisher should be one for the sprinters.
The biggest and most interesting question is the fight for the GC win, where Vitor Rodrigues was able to create a 57s gap to his big rival Maxim Iglinski. Second though is the better time trialist and should be able to gain time today. But will it be enough for getting the race lead?
Other than that there might be some fights for the places 5-23. At least the riders in the close placements there are usually just within seconds. So some riders might still have a decent chance to jump into the top10 today.
And last but not least the usual TT experts, who will go for the stage win. These are:
Nicacio
Martinez
Rasmussen
Bochman
Zoidl to name a few.
Rasmussen might be the biggest surprise here. He was expected to be one of the first riders falling out of the time limit. That said, he has a nice race here with a stage win already and with a reduced sprinter field also tomorrows stage is a possible one for him. And as good time trialist as well he could still have 2 stage wins eventually?
He had good first sections and unsurprisingly takes the provisional lead.
Liu next as pure time trialist. The Compal rider also struggled in the mountains as weak climbers. Coming towards the finish line it`s clear that he can`t beat the best time. 2nd for him 10s down.
Oyarzun is not that good of a time trialist as the other two but is a far better alrounder which could eventually show the regeneration issues.
He is better than Liu but not as fast as the Carlsberg rider. So provisional 2nd.
Bochman as next rider for the Danish team. He might have hoped for a bit more than 50th in the GC as solid stage racer. But apparently the amount and length of climbs was too much for him with some of the divisions best riding a high pace.
Today though he sets a nice time. First with 16s ahead of his team mate.
Kasa as next and very similar rider to Bochman actually.
And he is able to jump on the highest step beating Bochman by 26s!
Zoidl as one of todays biggest favourites. The Austrian sets the best times in all sectors and obviously also in the finish. This might already be a tough time to beat for the next riders as he goes 61s faster than Kasa!
Raisin next. The US rider had some strong days in the mountains but as 12th seems a bit below his potential. As decent time trialist he surely hopes to improve into the top 10. And regeneration really shows importance here as he passes most riders but Zoidl and takes the provisional 2nd. Is this enough for the top10 GC?
Nicacio as Brauilian ITT champion surely a candidate for this stage. As 11th in the GC he surely wants the top10 and most likely will reach this goal.
2nd and +3s only at the first stop, then 2nd and 15s at the 2nd. So it might not be the win but a very good time.
He was actually faster in the last section than Zoidl! Not fast enough though as he is 12s down in the finish. But this is already quite a gap to the next Raisin, who had +56s. Seeing the small gaps until the 5th this might bring him a nice improvement.
His team mate Paulinho is a bit weaker version of himself but probably one of the strongest GC duos here. The Portuguese is not getting a stage podium but as provisional 5th he could also potentially climb a bit in the GC.
Schwab had a tough role here. As top5 climber he often showed his potential here which also moved him into the top10. But as teammate of Iglinski he sometimes had to wait behind which avoided an even better position. And as one of the weaker time trialists he might even fall out of the top10 today.
He is losing almost 4min! to Zoidl, which means ~3min to some of the other GC men. Surely losing the top10 today.
Ardila as 8th at the moment. Losing some time today his top10 is also in danger. +2'44 for him.
J. Rodriguez is the better timetrialist of those two Azteca riders and so he might want to improve today. That said he is passed by Nicacio and Paulinho today. Not very good.
Martinez was close to the win last year and is also having a decent race this season but is only 6th in the GC. Today though he has the goal to climb into the top5 and his time is good. As fourth rider only he is going into the group of losing less than 1min on Zoidl. 4th with +58 wich might move him up to 4th in the GC as well.
Herklotz has one hell of a race. Who would have expected him on the 5th in the GC after all mountain stages.
But he is not yet at least the best time trialist and still needs to learn a bit. So he will surely drop a bit today but still keeps a top10, which is probably to the favour of his manager. Also the U23 jersey is pretty secured which combines an awesome race.
In the end he falls to 9th in the GC 5s behind Rodriguez only but also just 2s ahead of Raisin.
Kulhavy was also one of the small surprises in this race and was surely one of the biggest fighters and totally deserves to be in the top5 here. His time trial is as expected pretty awful and so he is passed by Martinez in the GC but due to the rather big gap he is 5th now ahead of Nicacio in 6th, Paulinho 7th, Rodriguez 8th, Herklotz 9th, Raisin 10th.
So being just out of the top10 are Ardila, Parra Bustamante, Schwab, D. Fernandez and Vrecer!
Ochoa Quintero showed a strong race in the mountains and is pretty much secured as 3rd. So it`s just about finishing the race for him without any fear to lose the podium.
And now to the most interesting fight! Iglinski starts the race and he is 57s down on V. Rodrigues who starts as last rider today.
First sector is reached by both and we have a gap of 14s only! So 43s are left for Rodrigues. The 2nd section though is the longest and here you usually lose the most time.
12th for Iglinski at this point being 1'32 behind Zoidl. A bit later Rodrigues passes this point being 25th and 2'11 behind. So both won`t take the best stage result. But more interesting the difference. 39s! This means still 18s left for the Portugese and the shortest sector left.
Iglinski comes to the finish and he had a very good last sector jumping into the stage top10. 9th being +1'47 behind stage winner Zoidl!
And now the long waiting for Rodrigues. He surely loses time today. But he still had 18s advance for the last sector. Also he had a good last sector climbing a few positions finishing as 22nd today being 2'37 down.
Quick calculation and it`s exactly 7s left for him to keep the lead!
This was very close but one more stage to come. It`s a sprint stage, so it`s hard for Iglinski to gain those 7s. But he surely will try and lots of sprinters are out of the race already or are exhausted.
But Iglinski at least takes the point jersey.
