A stage that not many riders can realistically contend, but a stage that is going to be very exciting nonetheless, as we’ll experience fights for both the stage win between Paillot, the prologue winner, Gonzalez Salas, Kwok and likely a few GC riders as well, and for the top GC places, even though there’s still one tough stage besides this separating the riders from the final ceremony.
Gonzalez Salas is the first to start and it seems like he’s going really strong in all 3 intermediates so far.
Kwok also starts and currently holds 2nd place, 1” behind the Spanish, in the 1st intermediate.
Gonzalez Salas finishes it off really strong in 56’52”, 53” in front of Clesen, the second to arrive.
Ma crosses the line a few positions later and is 2nd for the moment, 23” off the top time.
Quaade at the line is 2nd, 2 seconds faster than the Chinese. Kwok is soon to cross the line and he's been second in all 3 checkpoints so far, 1" behind in the first two and 3" behind in the third one.
He keeps his distance from the leader unchanged and at the finish line his time is 56'55". A few interesting performances follow, as Schär is 5th 33" behind, Aramendía 6th 37" off, Hollenstein 7th in 57'30" and Ramos Ticona 8th 39" slower than Gonzalez Salas.
Paillot leads the first intermediate being 5” faster than Gonzalez Salas, while Gallopin is 9” behind his fellow countryman.
Intxausti also sets off in the meantime and marks a good time at the 1st checkpoint, as he’s second 3” behind the French.
However, the unfortunate Spanish stage racer did even better between the 1st and 2nd checkpoint, as he’s now leading provisionally, where Paillot marked a time 8” faster than Gonzalez Salas and Omarsson – who then slipped well behind in the 3rd one. The Spanish’s time, thus, is 1” better than the Frenchman’s.
Paillot crosses the finish line in 56’42”, a time 9” better than the previous one set by Gonzalez Salas. He had lost 1 second to the former leader in the third intermediate, but gained 2 seconds back going into the last kilometers.
Intxausti reaches the 3rd checkpoint where he’s 2nd, 4” behind the top time. Omarsson is 6th at the finish.
After some outstanding performing up to the 2nd checkpoint where he was 2nd, 2” behind the leading time, Gallopin slips to 5th, 16” off the fastest time, getting past the 3rd intermediate point.
Intxausti with a great time trial in the end, as he finishes it off with the same time as his fellow countryman Gonzalez Salas.
Gallopin crosses the line in 5th place, 3 seconds better than Quaade and 16 worse than Kwok.
Bibby with what is for now by far the best time at the first checkpoint! He’s 7 seconds quicker than Paillot for now.
Shikai is 4th at the same time, 11” off the Brit’s time, while the Swedes T.Ludvigsson and Lövkvist are 7th and 9th respectively at the moment. Roglič was going really strong up to the 2nd checkpoint, where he was 4 seconds off Intxausti’s time, but it seems like he's drifting a lot of positions behind now. Probably a matter of not managing his energies perfectly.
Another one of today’s favorites, Nepomnyachsniy, is in with a very good time in the first kilometers. He’s 3” behind the Brit past the 1st intermediate, while news reach us that the latter has scored an impressive time at the second intermediate!
He not only is 24" in front of Shikai who is also racing a really terrific TT, but also is 26" in front of Paillot who is first at the finish line for now.
Roglič crosses the line in 8th, eventually.
Past the 3rd intermediate point, Ludvigsson and Lövkvist keep going strong as they’re both around 40” behind Bibby in the 3rd checkpoint, where the Brit is 25” ahead of Paillot and 31” in front of Shikai, who couldn’t quite keep his blistering pace up for longer and now strays a bit.
Race leader Úran shares the lead with Bibby at the 1st intermediate, but is 2” behind him at the second one. Nepomnyachsniy is 5” behind the Colombian stage racer, while Roche is 4th, 19 seconds behind the British all-rounder.
Lövkvist first and then T.Ludvigsson get to the finish line with interesting times. The Swedish Champion is 30” off Paillot’s time, while Fredrik’s older brother marks a final time 7” better than his teammate, ending up in a provisional 5th place.
Shikai is 4th in the end, just 1 second behind Gonzalez Salas and Intxausti.
As everyone has gotten past the 3rd checkpoint, Úran makes up 2 seconds to Bibby, and is now behind him for a matter of hundredths of second. Nepomnyachsniy loses 1 more second to both of the top 2. Roche slips to 9th after not saving his energies for the finale, similarly to a few other riders.
Bibby with an absolutely top time! He gets past the finish line in 56’13”, 28 seconds faster than Paillot who held the hot seat belonging to the provisional leader for quite a long time now.
Among the favorites for the GC, we can see Denifl currently in 14th, Duarte in 17th and Contador in 12th, all more than a minute behind the Brit. Only 3 riders still need to cross the line, and they are all fighting for the stage’s top 10 or better as it stands.
Nepomnyachsniy finishes it off in 2nd position, 11 seconds behind Bibby, but 17 in front of Paillot, who is still 3rd for now. It seems like GC riders really have overshadowed TT specialists today. Great performance for the Ukrainian, who is not new to great performances in stage races’ TTs at all.
Roche is 9th in the end, so mathematically in the top 10 however badly things go in the next few minutes. He’s almost a minute behind Bibby’s time.
Úran with the same time as Bibby! We’ll have to wait the exact times to know precisely who will get awarded the stage win, officially, as this long time trial has ironically come down to the hundredths of seconds.
Whatever the decision will be, anyway, Úran sends yet another huge message to his opponenets. With just 1 stage to face – even if a tough one – he doesn’t show any signs of potential weakening.
But it's Bibby! Top performances by both as said, but it's the Brit who takes it by a mere 6 hundredths of second, that’s why the jury’s decision took so long as well.
