Time for the ITT, which should settle the last things in the GC. Will the specialists have come over the mountains OK or will it be the GC riders that take the stage due to better fitness?
There's only one way to find out:
Gonzalez Salas did great on the prologue and starting as the second rider today he should set a good reference time.
44'10 is the time to beat.
Michael Faerk Christensen
+ 40''
Rick Flens
+ 27''
Steven Cummings
+ 1'00''
Will Clarke
+ 17''
Michiel Elijzen
+ 1'05''
Rodrigo Nascimento
+ 4''
Basilio Ramos Ticona
+ 57''
Sergiy Lagkuti
+ 1'34
Roy shows that fitness might be all-important as he sets new best time 2 seconds faster than Gonzales Salas.
Michael Olsson
+ 1'30''
Johann Rabie
+ 41''
Vitor Rodrigues
+ 39''
Manuel Lloret
+ 52''
Konovalovas sets new best time 37 seconds faster than Roy.
Only to see Koren cut a massive 1'12 of that moments later. Bookwalter is the next big name to watch. He looks sharp as he goes past Mestre, who had 16th best time at the intermediate.
The American is 39 seconds slower than Koren in goal.
Vitaliy Popkov
+ 2'23''
Rohan Dennis
+ 1'32''
Ludvigsson has temmate Haugaard Jensen as a rabbit in the final part of the stage.
That helps him to provisional 4th, 1'22 slower than Koren.
Laengen was only 10 seconds slower than Koren at the intermediate. That translates to 21 seconds and a 2nd place at the finish line.
John-Lee Augustyn
+ 1'05''
Rafael Reis
+ 1'01''
Gorka Izagirre
+ '57''
Patrick Lane
+ 3'05
Now it's time for the GC riders to show themselves. 11 riders are to split the top 10 spots between each other.
Hoem is the one hoping to take a step up, but he looks worn after a hard ride yesterday
It's no secret that Nepomnyachsniys manager have high expectations for him today and he lives up to that by taking best time on the intermediate 6 seconds faster than Kanget.
Let's just refresh how the GC looked before today and how the times at the first intermediate fell out:
GC
1st intermediate
Tiago Machado
36h14'26
+ 1'01
Magno Nazaret
+ 1'58
+ 1'26
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
+ 2'36
0
David Boily
+ 2'50
+ '48
Michał Kwiatkowski
+ 3'07
+ '50
Tanel Kangert
+ 3'29
+ '6
Dario Cataldo
+ 4'11
+ 1'04
Serghei Tvetcov
+ 4'54
+ '43
George Bennett
+ 4'59
+ 1'27
Johnny Hoogerland
+ 5'43
+ 1'35
Bjørn Tore Hoem
+ 5'51
+ 1'56
At the finish line we get:
Hoem at + 2'44
Hoogerland makes it 2 minutes slower than Korens time. That secures his GC Top 10.
Bennett defends his GC place by finishing 1'47 down on Koren.
Tvetcov is really looking sharp as he has passed Cataldo with some distance. He will definitely improve his GC with this ride.
Provisional 3rd, 24 seconds down.
Still Cataldo have ridden a very fast last half finishing 7th best 1'05 slower than Koren.
Kangert means business and improves the time of his teammate by as much as 45 seconds.
Kwiatkowski wil be hoping to make an assault on the youth jersey as well as defending the points jersey.
A 6th place 1'25 slower than Kangert should be a good start.
Boily will not be giving away white for free though.
The Canadian is 3 seconds faster than Kwiatkowski thus defending the jersey.
As on the intermediate Nepomnyachsniy is very strong and sets new best time. 8 seconds faster than Kangert.
Nazaret is 2'46 slower. I'm sure he had hoped for more despite being far from a specialist in this discipline.
Machado managed to stay on his bike so he will defend his jersey, though not as comfortably as many expected.
Volta a Portugal - Stage 10 
