With the classement still being completely open, this 40 km. Team Time Trial will be a very important step towards the overall victory. As favourites for the stage we have Fed-Ex which in general seem to be one of the favourites for the entire race. That said, we should also look out for Wiggle and Benfica too.
Surprisingly, though, it didn't start too well for Fed-Ex. I had expected them to demolish their stage rivals already at the intermediate sprint, but instead it was British Airways, with Jaksche being their best TT'er, who took the lead at first. They were 1 second ahead of Wiggle, and with White Bear Steyr taking third. So, it may not turn out as Cyanide predicted
Ahead, it was instead the B-team of Fed-Ex which took the control. Being the 4th team reaching the finish line, they were comfortably in lead. Next in was Slipstream, but surprisingly Raisin and co. didn't manage to beat Fed Ex B. Neither did Dasani who has yesterday's fighter, Dyachkin in its squad.
But then, it was over for Fed-Ex B. White Bear Steyr, the team with the current leader of the race, Sonnery, fought to keep the jersey, and they were very succesful. With 8 seconds to Fed-Ex B, it was more than enough even though Sonnery had trouble keeping up on the very last meters.
British Airways obviously had trouble keeping up the steam, and they didn't manage to beat White Bear Steyr's time. Wiggle did, though, and they did it in an amazing time. In 55'36, they had managed to cut 1 minute off the 'til then best time. And that despite the fact that they had lost two of their riders, Azevedo and Gajek.
Benfica didn't disappoint, but neither did they really impress. They came in with the 2nd best time, and the only ones left was Fed-Ex. Had they improved on the route? Or is this a disappointing day for Fed-Ex which have Sevilla, Danielson and Botero in its squad?
Well, they weren't as good as we thought, but it was enough for spot on the podium. The victory goes to Wiggle!
Left, we had McQuaid, Prudhomme, Mr. Dope, Ullrich, Armstrong, Bush and Blair. Bush and Blair are actually riding for the same team, but Bush decided to leave Blar along the route. Therefore, Blair came in last
(I just saw that the results screen show that all the famous riders have been kicked out of the race - they are listed as 'withdrawn'
Stage Results:
1
Wiggle
2
Benfica
+6
3
Fed-Ex
+21
4
White Bear Steyr
+1'03
5
British Airways
+1'08
6
Fed-Ex B
+1'11
7
Slipstream
+1'18
8
Dasani
+1'30
9
Slipstream B
+1'46
10
American Suzuki B
+2'20
11
Gatorade B
+2'38
Overall Class.:
1
Nuno Ribeiro
BENFICA
7h26'02
2
David Blanco
WIGGLE - PREMIER INN
+ 2
3
Leonardo Bertagnolli
WIGGLE - PREMIER INN
+ 14
4
Marcos Arriagada
WIGGLE - PREMIER INN
s.t.
5
Florentino Marquez
BENFICA
+ 20
6
Hugo Manuel VÃtor
BENFICA
s.t.
7
Oscar Sevilla
FED-EX
+ 27
8
Marco Velo
FED-EX
+ 31
9
Egoi MartÃnez de Esteban
FED-EX
+ 33
10
Santiago Botero
FED-EX
+ 35
11
Tom Danielson
FED-EX
s.t.
12
Blaise Sonnery
WHITE BEAR STEYR
+ 51
13
Steven Cummings
WIGGLE - PREMIER INN
+ 57
14
Konstantin Siutsou
WHITE BEAR STEYR
+ 1'17
15
Martijn Keizer
WHITE BEAR STEYR
s.t.
Sonnery is still leading the Points Class., and Dyachkin is still leading the Mountain Class.
Edited by Roman on 18-10-2016 00:07
