Michiel Van Aelbroeck is the first rider of note to take to the road. He produces an underwhelming time of just 57'04 who isn’t even enough to take the best time, currently held by Barta at 56’26.
His companion, Pedro Herrera, on the other hand gives the team some hope by claiming the best time a few moments later with an effort of 56’19
There is another important man on course who could be in for a good result, Viktor Renäng. The swede is clearly having a bad day though, and will lose 5 more seconds than the current leader.
The first rider to beat the time of Herrera is Neofytos Sakellaridis, who can only manage to overtake the leader by fractions of a second! Could this be a winning time already?
Stanislau Bazkhou and Thomas Bontenackels strengthen that idea by clocking +3’’ and +9’’ respectively, which must be seen as a rather disappointing performance by the latter.
There are still plenty of riders on the road looking for a competitive time. One of those is Marc de Maar, the Curaçao champion, who shaves 2 more seconds off Sakellaridis’ time.
Another Sancor rider arrives. The argentinian, Laureano Rosas will find himself unsatisfied with his performance which sees him timing exactly as much as his companion Pedro Herrera.
We have to wait a fair bit of time before another rider records a meaningful time. And what a time it is! 56’07, which is 10’’ less than the previous best time. The russian Dmitriy Ignatiev is the one to be accounted for this.
Roy Goldstein is on the road now, but doesn’t look to impress his manager or his fans. The Israeli TT champion records a time 57’11, which will make it difficult for him to even hang on to a top10 result.
Samuel Pökälä finishes his performance with an interesting 56’17, which places him 2nd for the time being. But that isn’t going to last long since Ingvar Omarsson completes his course in one second less!
Fast times are coming more frequently now as we see yet another new leading time. Chris Barton has finished 5’’ faster, and reclaims the hot seat now!
Gabor Fejes will not see himself in the same place, but by equalling Ignatiev’s time he’ll probably award himself with a fine final position. After him comes a surprisingly fast Martin Velits, who only needs 2 more seconds than Barton!
We’re closing in on the very top favourites here. Pierre Rolland has started his TT in style by capturing the best time at the first checkpoint. He would then replicate that effort in the 2nd intermediate, and finish with a time of 55’41! That should be enough to set him as a contender for the day.
Dion Beukeboom finishes his course as the 4th to last rider on the road and will be happy to slot himself in provisional second, with only 14’’ down on Rolland. This performance should be enough to emulate his team mate’s Nick Clesen, rather lackluster time of 57’04.
But we have reached our final 3 riders on the road! Probably the 3 strongest contesters: Javier AramendÃa vs Manuele Boaro vs Andrew Tennant. Can any of these prove themselves worthy of the status?
The answer is a big round No for one of them. AramendÃa doesn’t seem to like the Namib Desert’s climate much as he sinks himself into provisional 7th between Ignatiev and Omarsson. Definitely not the day his manager had envisioned…
Unlike him though, both Boaro and Tennant deliver impressive times already in the first checkpoint.
And it’s Boaro who takes the best time of the day there, taking 8’’ less than his team mate Rolland! His rival comes in 2nd with a 6’’ deficit.
The fashionable UK TT champ goes all-in for the 2nd sector in search of those 6 precious seconds, while news arrive that his rival has just managed to beat the previous best for a total of 31’’!!
Tennant can’t do more than 2nd again losing even more time, with a total loss of 17’’
There’s little doubt at the finish line to who the winner is here. Manuele Boaro crushes the opposition with a time of 55’07 to claim the Windhoek ITT!
Tennant still manages to stop Generali from taking a 1-2 in this event, by finishing 27’’ away from Boaro, but still 7’’ faster than Rolland.
